Vaping “health benefits” go up in smoke as RWD highlights damage caused by e-cigarettes
While e-cigarettes and vapes were once hailed as healthy alternatives to conventional cigarettes, one retrospective cohort study may suggest otherwise. Researchers from the ...
While e-cigarettes and vapes were once hailed as healthy alternatives to conventional cigarettes, one retrospective cohort study may suggest otherwise. Researchers from the University of Southern California (CA, USA) utilized real-world data (RWD) from the Southern California Children’s Health Study to link secondhand vape exposure to bronchitis symptoms.
The research, published online in the journal Thorax, highlighted how exposure to nicotine vapor from e-cigarettes and vaping devices can damage young adults’ respiratory health.
The RWD was collected from 2090 participants between 2014 to 2019 and provided information about respiratory health and smoking exposure. This included the level of active or secondhand, vape, cigarette or cannabis smoke exposure.
In addition to smoke exposure, the RWD recorded bronchitis symptoms. Symptoms included contracting bronchitis 12 months prior to assessment, coughing daily for 3 months or congestion unrelated to typical cold symptoms.
Further respiratory damage was assessed through participants experiencing either wheezing and shortness of breath. These self-reported symptoms included noticing wheezing in the chest 12 months prior, while shortness of breath was classified as experiencing breathing difficulties when hurried or walking on an incline.
During the study period, the incidence of secondhand vape exposure increased, alongside the active use of cigarettes, vaping devices and cannabis. However, secondhand smoke exposure from conventional cigarettes decreased.
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RWD revealed a large majority of participants exposed to secondhand vape smoke were also exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke, alongside actively smoking themselves.
Coinciding with the reported incidence of secondhand vape smoke exposure, the amount of self-reported wheeze and bronchitis symptoms from the RWD increased. Shortness of breath did increase, but the study did not suggest a definitive period for this.
When focused on secondhand vape exposure, 40% of participants were more likely to report bronchitis symptoms and 53% shortness of breath. When the cohort was reduced further to 1181 individuals – those who had not actively smoked 30 days prior – the associations strengthened.
Of the 1181 individuals, the likelihood of wheezing doubled and the probability of experiencing bronchitis symptoms trebled.
The researchers acknowledged the limitations of an observational study, but reported that “if causal, reduction of secondhand e-cigarette exposure in the home would reduce the burden of respiratory symptoms.”
The use of real-world evidence for this cause was beneficial, as RWD revealed “the negative effects of [secondhand nicotine vape] exposure on respiratory symptoms.”